NIA attaches Kashmiri businessman Watali’s properties in terror funding case

PTI, Jun 12, 2023, 10:20 AM IST

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday attached properties of businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district in connection with a terror funding case, officials said. They said a team of the NIA attached the immovable properties in the name of Watali at villages Baghatpora and Kachwari in Handwara area of the north Kashmir district. The properties include land in the name of Watali, an accused in the terror funding case, the officials said. They said the properties were attached following an order by the Special NIA Court in New Delhi in May.

Watali was arrested by the NIA in 2017 under various sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

A trial court had in May last year framed charges against Watali and others in a case related to alleged terrorism and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir in 2017. Watali was moved out of jail in February last year and placed under house arrest on medical grounds.